The Cali Burn Fest
Mad Bombing: Racers jostle for position in the gorge.
RZ
Zaleski would meet us at Rapid Number Two to shoot photos. The Burnt Ranch Gorge is a classic. Even at 450 cfs, the rapids are clean and poofy, like skiing a good powder run, and the racecourse is ideal with Class III-IV, finishing off with the Class IV+ Number Two, a ten-foot drop into a bubbling cauldron followed by a nice, flat swimming hole. The Gorge’s premiere rapids are tagged in numerals. Number Three, about 200 yards downstream from the finish line, is the run’s only Class V drop at that level.
A longhaired safety boater lights a round of firecrackers and the race is on. Fifteen boaters grapple for position through a shallow rapid at the start. We split into two groups, Gonski in the front pack, me in the second. Pumping hard, I stride up behind one competitor, a Russian, surf his wake and glide by. I do this three more times before another boater goes over a drop backwards, gets stuck in a hole and then barrel rolls over me as I punch through. At this point, we’re right above the finish line. I yield so the guy who just emerged from the beat-down can show me the line. That’s what I call strategy.
Meanwhile, Gonski has battled his way though most of the first pack but is beaten by Charlie Center, Rush Sturges and Alex Wolfgram. After the race all the competitors gather at the finish to watch more boaters come through, the long-haired safety kayaker gets worked in the hole and the entire crowd rushes to the banks, yelling in anticipation of a swim like a bunch of dudes at a bachelor party about to watch their bro get a lap dance. The chundering continues but he holds on to get roped out, still in his boat. Someone runs the hole upside down, swimming into the pool on the other side.
"Throw me the bag fool!"
RZ
This is what I love about boating: The competition is fun but it’s an afterthought. It’s running drops blind, spending the day in a deep gorge and laughing at a good spankin’ with friends while lounging on a warm slab of granite.
| Posted on Thu Oct16, 2008, 9:24 PM by Orion Meredith |
| I'm not going to lie but that guy getting pummeled backwards in the whole, then barrel rolling over the Authors kayak was me...... and proud of it! |
| Posted on Sat Oct18, 2008, 2:18 AM by Mark Johnson |
| Wish I could have made it this year, can't wait for next year's fest! |
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